Field – felte records
Blasting out noisy wall of sound shoegaze since 2001, San Francisco based outfit, Film School, has a revamped energy and thrusts forward with bittersweet themes of isolation amid dizzying guitars and shrouded vocals. I’d compare the sounds on Field, their first album for felte records, to early Lush mixed in with the guile and crunching sounds of Catherine Wheel. Their sound shifts on tracks on this album from punchy dream pop to more traditional blankets of fuzz as standard shoegaze.
The first track on the album, “Tape Rewind,” sets the epic psych-rock machine into motion, with subdued vocals, a banging bassline, and showers of guitars sprinkling down in an echoey landscape. While contemporary in sound, it easily could have fit in on the late 80s, early 90s shoegaze scene. Track 7, “Up Spacecraft,” is subdued, with whispered vocals, but changes pace ¾ into song, with a fuller sound and dreamy chorus from founding member, Greg Bertens (vocals/guitar), and Noël Brydebell (vocals). “Is This a Hotel?,” track 6, has a kicking synth that covers the tune with a looming goth-like dread. I love the bounce and pace on this track – it is energetic and unrelenting. Track 10, “All I’ll Ever Be,” is a foggy textured track that sounds like Loveless-era My Bloody Valentine.
The vibes are dreamy, hazy, and slightly psychedelic. In many ways the ambient shoegaze presented here is soothing white noise to cleanse the soul.
Track listing –
1: Tape Rewind
2: Defending Ruins
3: Don’t You Ever
4: Isolator
5: Baby
6: Is This A Hotel?
7: Up Spacecraft
8: Lessen
9: Influencer
10: Tell Me Why
11: All I’ll Ever Be
Tracks 4 and 8 are instrumental interludes. My favorites: 1**, 7**, 6**, 10**, 3*, and 5*.
– (h)earwitness